Fresh explosions rocked the capital of Sudan this morning as fighting between the regular army and paramilitaries raged for a third day with the death toll rising to nearly 100.
The violence in Khartoum erupted on Saturday after weeks of power struggles between Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Bitter fighting has ensued in the days since, triggered a wide international outcry with appeals for an immediate ceasefire and dialogue.
A total of 97 civilians have been killed and hundreds have been wounded so far, said the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, a pro-democracy group monitoring casualties. The group noted the figure does not include all casualties as many could not reach hospitals due to difficulties in movement.
There has been no official word on the number of fighters killed in the clashes, many of which have been captured in shocking video footage.
‘Gunfire and shelling are everywhere,’ Wadeya Mahmoud Koko, head of a union for food workers, said from her home in Khartoum.
She said a shell stuck a neighbour’s house Sunday, killing at least three people. ‘We couldn’t take them to a hospital or bury them.’
Sudan’s capital city is seen burning amid bitter fighting and airstrikes
A Sudanese air force plane is seen conducting an airstrike over Khartoum
Smoke rises as clashes continue in the Sudanese capital on April 16, 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
A building is seen on fire following an airstrike in Khartoum
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly give a joint statement on the situation in Sudan during a G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Japan, April 17
Fierce clashes broke out across the capital Khartoum and the sister city of Omdurman on Saturday and have continued ever since
Loud gunfire and deafening explosions echoed across the streets of Khartoum Monday morning as clashes continued.
A stench of gunpowder lingered as plumes of thick black smoke emanated from damaged buildings, according to witnesses.
The chaotic scenes of fighting with tanks, truck-mounted machine guns, artillery and warplanes in densely populated areas of the capital are unprecedented. Sudan has a long history of civil strife, but much of that has taken place in remote tribal areas, far from Khartoum.
On Sunday, the warring sides agreed to a three-hour pause in fighting to allow civilians to stock up on necessities. Compliance was spotty, and there were reports of casualties during the humanitarian pause.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed his call for a truce and a return to negotiations during a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy nations in Japan on Monday.
‘People in Sudan want the military back in the barracks,’ he said. ‘They want democracy. They want the civilian-led government, Sudan needs to return to that path.’
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly added: ‘Ultimately, the immediate, future lies in the hands of the generals who are engaged in this fight. And we call upon them to put peace first, to bring an end to the fighting, to get back to negotiations.
‘That’s what the people of Sudan want. That’s what the people of Sudan deserve, and we will continue to seek ways to support that road back to peace.’
The fighting broke out after bitter disagreements between former allies Burhan and Daglo over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army – a key condition for a final deal aimed at ending a crisis since the 2021 military coup they orchestrated together.
The coup has already derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of president Omar al-Bashir and piled on a spiralling economic crisis in Sudan.
Now the two generals have dug in, saying they would not negotiate a truce, instead engaging in verbal attacks and demanding the other’s surrender.
Two burning planes at Khartoum International Airport, 16 April, amid clashes for strategic locations between the RSF paramilitary group and the Sudanese armed forces
Sudanese greet army soldiers in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on 16 April 2023
Sudanese greet army soldiers in Port Sudan on 16 April. The army appeared to have the upper hand in the capital city of Khartoum by Sunday
Sudan’s capital city burns overnight amid continued clashes between the army and RSF
The clashes forced Sudanese to hunker down in their homes with fears of a prolonged conflict that could plunge the country into deeper chaos, dashing hopes for return to civilian rule.
Since Saturday, the two sides have traded blame over who started the fighting.
Each has claimed the upper hand by declaring control of key sites, including the airport and the presidential palace but none of their claims could be independently verified.
Fighting also raged in others parts of Sudan including the western Darfur region and in the eastern border state of Kassala.
The Saturday killing of three staff from the World Food Programme in North Darfur clashes prompted the agency to suspend all operations in the impoverished country.
Medics have pleaded for safe corridors for ambulances and a ceasefire to treat the victims because the streets are too dangerous for transporting casualties to hospital.
The RSF was created under Bashir in 2013, emerging from the Janjaweed militia that his government unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in Darfur a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes.
The latest violence sparked by the two generals has reflected the deep-seated divisions between the regular army and the RSF.
Despite the wide calls for a ceasefire, the two generals appeared in no mood for talks.
Burhan, who rose through the ranks under the three-decade rule of now-jailed Bashir, has said the coup was ‘necessary’ to include more factions in politics.
Daglo later called the coup a ‘mistake’ that failed to bring about change and reinvigorated remnants of Bashir’s regime ousted by the army in 2019 following mass protests.
